An ad hoc committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine will plan and conduct a 1.5-day public workshop to explore the scientific, policy, and operational aspects of big data in relation to microbial threats and public health.

This workshop will explore the opportunities, limits, and challenges to maximize the benefits of shared value creation to meet the health needs of communities around the globe. The opportunities as well as the limits of shared value in health will be illuminated through an analysis of global disease priorities and the corporate domains of core products and services, employee health, and community-employer interactions.

On March 24th and 25th (2015) the IOM’s Forum on Microbial Threats will convene a public workshop on the “Ebola Epidemic in West Africa.” The public workshop will feature invited presentations and discussions that will focus on such potential topics as: the source(s) and spread of this disease from its epicenter to other countries in West Africa; factors driving the unprecedented scale of this outbreak; factors impeding country responses; and opportunities to mobilize the domestic and international health communities in a coordinated response to this dread disease to stop the geographic spread of this disease. The meeting is free and open to the public but registration is required.

The Forum on Global Violence Prevention will hold a 2-day public workshop on 1) the use of traditional and new media to communicate evidence-based information for violence prevention and 2) new applications of social media and new communications technologies to prevent violence.

Using several low and middle income countries as case studies, this three-day workshop will examine country-level processes for making informed choices about chronic disease control programs. The aim of the workshop is to identify the infrastructure and data requirements for the development of a set of tools to support country-led planning for the effective, efficient, and equitable provision of chronic disease control programs.